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Grand Prix of Alabama winner Ryan Hunter-Reay is now the Indy 500 champ

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Ryan Hunter-Reay won the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama just last month at the Barber Motorsports Park outside Birmingham. On Sunday, he won the Indy 500 in the closest win in the race's history. He also became the first American to win the Indy 500 since 2006. (Joe Songer | jsonger@al.com)

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- Just four weeks ago, Ryan Hunter-Reay was crowned the winner of the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama at the Barber Motorsports Park. Today, he is the newly-crowned Indy 500 champ.

Hunter-Reay is the first American to win the Indy 500 since 2006, beating three-time winner Helio Castroneves on Sunday by the closest margin (.060 seconds) in race history.

He started the race from the 19th position, and was ecstatic after the win.

After the race, Hunter-Reay said he was "a proud American boy, that's for sure."

Ryan Hunter-Reay celebrates his Indy 500 win. (AP)

"I've watched this race since I was sitting in diapers on the floor in front of the TV," he said. "This is American history, this race, this is American tradition."

At the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama on April 27, Hunter-Reay came in first over Marco Andretti and Scott Dixon. He is now comfortably in the lead in the Verizon IndyCar Series points standings,